


The Moon is Empty

by say_im_good



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Heroes AU, M/M, Mystery, but this is less about heroes and more about recovering from trauma, changkyun is a new hero, chaptered fic, kind of slow burn?, mystery story, not necessarily slow burn but???, other members will appear later - Freeform, there will also be cool hero stuff later tho i promise, wonho is a cinnamon bun
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-27
Updated: 2019-09-27
Packaged: 2020-10-29 04:34:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20790710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/say_im_good/pseuds/say_im_good
Summary: He knew that Hoseok had been right all along when he looked in the mirror for the first time in days. Reaching up a trembling hand, he pinched a strand of greasy, dark hair, twisting it between his rough fingers before letting it drop back to hang over his brow. His eyes were ringed with shadows of sleepless nights, his cheeks were hollow, pale, his teeth looked grimey when he leaned in and tried to force a smile that took all of his remaining effort to conjure. No wonder everyone had been asking ‘are you okay’ like a mantra over the course of the past few days. He had been lying to himself just as much as them in saying that he was fine. Changkyun was a firm believer in only accepting what he saw as truth, and his own face was all the evidence that he needed to believe that something was absolutely, entirely, not okay.But… what?





	The Moon is Empty

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! If you didn't read the tags (which is fine) or if I didn't make sense of them enough, this is a hero-au story! I'm implicating this because I don't want things to seem confusing from the start. Really the whole 'heroes' thing isn't as big of a deal as most hero-au stories have it being, but I was watching My Hero Academia and was super excited to try out such an au as my first Monsta X story! Please let me know what you think about this first chapter in the comments!

On the last day of summer in 2019, the moon was entirely full. Changkyun’s short cape was knotted a little too tightly around his neck, and the slick, black attire he wore was comfortably snug against his body. He’d been working on gaining muscle and he could feel the achievement in the way his outfit felt a little tighter every night that he put it on before work.

It wasn’t his first time on the field alone, but his first day was recent enough that he could recall it vividly, moment to moment. Recalling his first fight still left tingles in his ribs where he was punched, and the victory was still sweet on his tongue as he tied up the villain and declared his first success. But tonight would probably be silent. Tonight would probably be like most nights, most nights where crimes were small enough for police and other heroes to attend to. 

Changkyun was picky, perhaps too picky, but that wasn’t something that anyone could really argue against him about, besides maybe Hoseok. He fought the villains that he felt needed to be quelled the most, and his success rate so far was a solid one-hundred percent. 

He gave a few blinks to the full moon. It was his good luck charm ever since that first full moon that he’d gone out to fight for the first time and won, something very few upstarting heroes ever were able to brag about. Tonight the moon was full again, and tonight he felt most confident as he jumped from the balcony and swished through the air, falling fast enough for his breath to leave him before the air finally obeyed his command. He gathered his thoughts, and alongside those, his powers, and small gatherings of wind slowed his fall until he was just barely hovering above the asphalt of the street below. 

It was a beautiful night, the heat of summer finally decaying into a breezy autumn. Fall was his favorite season, and this particular night just felt like the essence of the season. Trees rustled, the full moon illuminated what the street lights couldn’t reach. He doubted he’d find crime on a night as tranquil as this. It would be an excuse for a walk, at the very least. He was paid to do patrols, and he couldn’t think of a better way to spend his night anyway.  
And so he walked. The streets were quiet at midnight as they often were, void of any human disturbance. Instead, soft noises of swishing leaves and occasional chirps of bats or crickets illuminated the streets. It was as if nature were breathing, and Changkyun loved the sound of it much more than the growling of cars or the chattering of people. He passed by shops with the ‘open’ lights dimmed to nothing, past water fountains and alleys. Nothing. It was desolate, as if no one lived on this street to begin with, and Changkyun almost couldn’t convince himself that such an assumption was false. Wouldn’t it be so much nicer to live in an abandoned city? Most people probably wouldn’t agree, but that was one of the many things that made him just a little different. 

He turned a corner and slowly came to a stop, staring up at the beautiful moon and the freckles of stars surrounding. He always thought about moving somewhere desolate, but how else could he use his power to make money? The city was the best place for heroics, and honestly, heroics was all he was good for. ‘Don’t waste your potential by giving up now,’ Hyunwoo had said, and the words repeated often in Changkyun’s restless mind. 

So he sighed and continued down the barren streets. 

The moon was dissolving into a blue sky when he opened his eyes again. He watched it’s faded figure, barely discernible against the surrounding clouds, before realizing that he wasn’t waking up at home. He sat up and the motion had him groaning; His head hurt like a bitch and his ears were frequented by a low ringing. Reaching up to press tenderly against his forehead, he pawed around his head until his fingers flinched away from the root source. When he looked at his hand, it was dusted with brown powder. He’d seen dried blood enough from the training videos and few scuffles he’d been through. What the fuck had happened…?

His heart rate began to speed up, he could feel it pulsing through not just his chest, but his entire body. Slowly, the pain began to fade into reality, and he bit his lip, laying back on his side on the concrete and curling into himself. Everything hurt so badly, his entire body was sore, and he would blame it for sleeping like an idiot in some alleyway if it weren’t for the blood on the back of his head, the spotted he noted on his arms when he dragged his hands to cover his face from the sunlight that felt far brighter than it should. Something had gone seriously wrong last night, and as his thoughts raced and raced and his heart pounded and pounded, the thing that scared him the most was the fact that he couldn’t remember a thing. 

He was still wearing his hero outfit. Okay, so whatever this incident was, it had happened while he was on patrol, since he never wore the suit out unless it was past sunset. He slipped his phone from the pocket on his outer thigh and winced at the sight of a shattered screen that had definitely not been broken the last time he could recall. Pressing the home button, he was at the very least relieved that it still lit up. Glancing at the picture of a smiling boy, he sighed and flicked his gaze towards the date and time display. 

It was eight in the morning on September 24th. He remembered yesterday, the 23rd, but it took some hassle. He remembered working at the cafe because Minhyuk spilled iced coffee on some poor girl by accident and she smacked him in the face. He remembered leaving work because Hoseok offered him a ride home and for the first time he’d said no. He remembered coming home and warming up a meal because he remembered having tried a new brand of ramen and liking it. And he remembered the full moon right before he went on patrol, because it hadn’t been full the day before, or the day before that. 

His hands trembled. He didn’t remember leaving his house. He didn’t remember what the patrol consisted of, or what had happened to him to knock him out or make his body this sore. He knew he should go to the heroes agency and report this incident, have them take a look at him and find out the source of his wounds. It was likely that a villain had gotten to him and won. But why wouldn’t he remember? Concussions couldn’t be that bad, could they? 

He knew he should call the agency, but he was already calling Hoseok before he realized he’d pressed the number. By two rings the other had answered, a thick yawn echoing through the receiver. “Changkyun, it’s really early, are you okay?” the other had mumbled.

Changkyun hated being vulnerable. He hated being weak. He hated the fact that his voice quivered when he replied, “I’m not okay. Something went wrong last night. Can you come get me?”


End file.
